Little Red Riding Hood Around the World

July 7: Red Riding Hood Introduction, Aesop’s tale (one of the earliest origins of the story), The False Grandmother (fourteenth century Italy), and The Panther (seventeenth century China)

July 14:   Little Red Hat (1867 Italian/Austrian version recorded by Christian Schneller) and La Petite Chaperon Rouge by Charles Perrault in 1697

July 21: Brother’s Grimm Little Red Cap (German, 1812)  and The True Story of Little Golden Hood by Andrew Lang (British, 1890)

July 28: Booklist

Book Recommendation:  LRR Hood by Cassandra Johnson available through the Library's Hoopla app. 

Movie Rec: RedRiding Hood starring Amanda Seyfried 

TV Show: Grimm

Forthcoming Book:

Burning Roses  by S.L. Huang

When Rosa (aka Red Riding Hood) and Hou Yi the Archer join forces to stop the deadly sunbirds from ravaging the countryside, their quest will take the two women, now blessed and burdened with the hindsight of middle age, into a reckoning of sacrifices made and mistakes mourned, of choices and family and the quest for immortality.

Burning Roses, a gorgeous fairy tale of love and family, of demons and lost gods, arrives in September 2020.

 

 

Red Riding Hood

 

Many of today’s fairy tales are told throughout the world in different languages, in different places, all across the spans of time. It is thought that fairy tales have one origin, which makes it easier to digest that these same tales can be found in similar form from Asia to America, Europe, to Africa and beyond. It is of no question that these tales have influenced many children and adults as well. Here we are going to take a look at the tale of Little Red Riding Hood.

Little Red Riding Hood can be found as far back as Aesop’s time. There is a connection to be made of the Greek slave Aesop’s story of the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, where the wolf disguises himself in order to get a few meals. We see this disguise continues in many of the tales of RRH where the wolf disguises himself as the grandmother of RRH.

Following that of Aesop’s tale, the story of RRH continues its oral tale today in many rural places where the written stories are harder to obtain. Some of the earliest recorded tales of RRH date back to the Qing Dynasty(1644-1912) (The Tiger Grandma or Grand Aunt Tigress), then follow on to be found in Italy La Finta Noona (with records dating back to the fourteenth century), France La Petit Chaperon Rouge (Charles Perault, 1697),  and Germany Little Red Cap (Brothers Grimm in 1812).

It is thought that Perault, the author most commonly thought of when people think of Little Red Riding Hood wrote his tale based on his mother’s history. His mother having grown up when, “in 1598 there was the sensational case of Jacques Raollet, who was sentenced to death in Angers, Touraine, for attacking and killing children as a werewolf” (Zipes). There were several trials in France about werewolves, similar to that of the trials of witches. This is believe to have played a large part in why Perault wrote this tale and where the influence of his tale may have come about.

 

There are many tales of this story, most of which are illustrated, introduced, and discussed in the book Little Red Riding Hood - And Other Girls Who Got Lost In The Woods by Amelia Carruthers which is part ten in the overall series called Origins of the Fairy Tales from around the World..

You can find this book on Hoopla here: https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/11694661

You can also read, watch, and listen to all things Red Riding Hood by taking a look at our staff recommended list.

 

References:

"Aesop." Encyclopedia of World Biography Online, vol. 24, Gale, 2005. Gale In Context: Biography. 

 “Household Stories From The Brother's Grimm :Grimm, Jacob, 1785-1863 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, 1 Jan. 1882.

Aesop, Grimm Brothers, and Hans C. Andersen. "Folk-lore and Fable." Danbury: Grolier, 1980. Print.

Carruthers, Amelia."Little RedRiding Hood - And Other Girls Who Got Lost In The Woods." United States: Read Books Ltd, 2015. Hoopla edition.